Den här bilden från i söndags hittade jag hos Marie. Jag fuskar!!
Jag var för tung/svag för att orka utföra övningen som man skulle :)

I två dagar har jag försök ta mig upp i tid för att hinna springa en snutt innan dagens förpliktelser kallar. I två dagar har jag skyllt på den dåliga sömnen och på att alla (ok, jag har bara en) mina varma springtröjor är för korta/trånga och att jag kommer frysa i tio minusgrader och således ställt om klockan. Imorn är det tredje gången gillt. Då ska jag trotsa trånga kläder och eventuell dålig nattsömn. Imorn är jag nämligen ledig och kan vila senare på dagen om så behövs.

Men tror inte att jag ligger på latsidan bara för att det inte springs. Nä, igår var det body balance som var i fokus och idag är det armyinstruerande. Deltagarna ska få köra tester, omgång två. Hur mycket starkare har de blivit måntro? Mycket starkare tror jag.

I told myself I wouldn't jump around once I started posting Christmas cookies, but I ran out of daylight today, so I am going to have to fall back on a cookie I made over the Thanksgiving holiday. I know we have seen sock monkeys recently, but since I was on a cupcake kick, and I was just playing, I decided to try the cuppie as a sock monkey. I like this guy! Stay tuned for a short baking tutorial in the next few days and tons and tons of Christmas cookies!

Day 22

By now you know I'm pretty uptight about things.
Routine after school is one of them.
It helps me to manage the whole homework, dinnertime, bathtime, bedtime thing without resorting to using illegal substances.
But I'm slowly learning that while routine is great, it won't kill me to just chill out a little bit either. I blame this radical attitude shift on sheer gratefulness in being back in my own home.
The last few days here in Perth have been unexpectedly hot. The air con is back on here and while it is truly magnificent, it's also responsible for the fine film of dust the offspring, husband and I are permanently covered in.
That's one of the gifts that keeps on giving from the renovation works. They are still carrying on around us so my life is a parade of painters, builders and carpenters for the forseeable future as well. Luckily we've learned to co-exist peaceably enough. They may even get a Christmas card.
So last night,
I didn't cook dinner.
I got some turkish bread, extra virgin olive oil and some dukkah and served it straight up.

Then I packed all 3 hot, over tired and super cranky small people in the car and headed to the beach.


And came home covered in sand, blissed out and super happy.
It feels great to break the rules.
Especially when they're my own ones.

[Image: Wallpaper by Studio Carnovsky, via Creative Review].

This wallpaper, designed by Studio Carnovsky, changes images depending on what color light you view it under. As such, it could be an incredibly interesting thing to experiment with in other contexts—including outdoor urban lighting, public signage, and even film animation.

[Image: Wallpaper by Studio Carnovsky, via Creative Review].

In the latter case, imagine a hallway whose wallpaper is printed with six or seven closely related scenes from an animated clip; each "scene" is printed in a different color. A light programmed to move through the appropriate sequence of color changes is then installed in the same corridor; as it flashes from color to color, changing perhaps every half-second, you see what appears to be a moving image on the walls around you.

It would be a kind of unmoving zoetrope—a stationary cinema in printed form (or a stationary cinema in stationery form?).

[Images: Wallpaper by Studio Carnovsky, via Creative Review].

Even if only used for interior decoration, however, the effect is well worth exploring further.

(Thanks to a tip from Tim Maly).

At the American Alpine Institute, we love mountains for their beauty and challenge, and for the livelihood they provide us as guides and teachers. But there are ample reasons for flatlanders to love mountains as well. Mountain ranges function as engines of water production, provide habitat for game, and supply resources for industry. In view of the universal value of mountains, the United Nations General Assembly established International Mountain Day on December 11th of each year to celebrate this shared natural heritage.

 
This year, we have decided to benefit the Central Asia Institute with our International Mountain Day activities. The Central Asia Institute is a non-profit organization with the mission to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in the remote mountainous regions of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Greg Mortenson, whose story was chronicled in the best-selling books, Three Cups of Tea and Stones to Schools, started the Central Asia Institute in 1993. Mortenson was inspired to develop a program to build schools at the foot of the Himalaya after he stumbled into a remote village in northern Pakistan following a failed attempt to climb K2. The villagers took him in, fed him, and gave him a place to rest while he recovered from his Himalayan failure. After Mortenson regained his strength, he vowed to come back to the village in order to help them to build a school. His return some months later marked the start of his quest to bring education to some of the poorest and most remote reaches of the world. Since 1993, Mortenson has helped build 145 schools throughout central Asia.

You can develop your personal climbing skills, your avalanche awareness skills and help us to benefit this important cause by participating in our International Mountain Day events.

You can now register online by clicking here. Registration is optional, but space is limited and those who register will be given priority.

• Rock Rescue Clinics  We will be offering four two-hour rock rescue clinics at the YMCA climbing wall in downtown Bellingham. The clinics will focus on the baseline skills required to perform a rescue in a high angle environment. We will be offering these from 8am-10am, 10:30am-12:30pm, 1pm to 3pm, and 3:30-5:30pm.
  
  
• Avalanche Awareness Seminars We will be offering two avalanche awareness events to celebrate International Mountain Day. The first event will be at 7pm at Western Washington University on December 2nd and the second event will also be at 7pm on December 11th at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in downtown Bellingham.

At all events we will be selling raffle tickets ($5 per ticket) to raise money for the Central Asia Institute. Many sponsors have donated to our event. To learn more about International Mountain Day and our events to celebrate it, please click here.

--Jason D. Martin

The American Alpine Institute just received the following email from Denali National Park:

The National Park Service (NPS) is examining approaches to recover more of the cost of the mountaineering program in Denali National Park and Preserve. As part of the public involvement process, the NPS is hosting two public open houses in December and two in January to provide information on the  mountaineering program and how the special mountaineering use fee is utilized. The cities, dates, locations, and times of the open houses are:

• Talkeetna, Alaska, Tuesday, December 7, Talkeetna Ranger Station, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. 

• Anchorage, Alaska – Wednesday, December 8, REI, 1200 W. Northern Lights Blvd., 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. 

• Seattle, Washington – Monday, January 17, REI Flagship Store, 222 Yale Ave. N, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. 

• Golden, Colorado – Tuesday, January 18, American Mountaineering Center, 710 10th St., 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Park staff will give two 20 minute presentations on the mountaineering program and fee at each open house, beginning at 15 minutes after the hour. Official public testimony will not be taken, but park staff will be available before and after the presentations to provide additional information and answer questions.

Currently each climber of Mt. McKinley and Mt. Foraker pays a cost recovery mountaineering use fee of $200. Income from this special use fee funds some of the cost of the mountaineering program, including preventative search and rescue (PSAR) education, training for rescue personnel, positioning of patrol/rescue personnel (including volunteers) at critical high altitude locations on the mountain, the CMC (human waste) program, and administrative support. Since the cost recovery fee was implemented in 1995, the number of fatalities and major injuries has decreased significantly. This is directly attributable to the increased educational and PSAR efforts made possible through the cost recovery program.

When the special use fee was initially established it covered approximately 30% of the cost of this specialized program. Even though the fee was increased from $150 to $200 in 2005, current fee revenue only covers 17% of the cost. McKinley/Foraker climbers make up less than 1⁄2 of 1 percent of the park’s visitors, and in 2011 Denali will expend approximately $1,200 in direct support of each permitted climber. The average cost for all other visitors is expected to be about $37. In recent years, the park has diverted funds from other critical park programs in order to fully fund the mountaineering program. This has negatively impacted funding available for interpretation, wildlife protection, resource management, and maintenance.

The NPS is seeking input and ideas regarding two key questions:
      1) Is the current mountaineering program the most cost effective,
      efficient and safe program we can devise?
      2) How much of the cost should be recovered from users, and what
      options are there for how those costs can be distributed?

Comments from the public will be accepted through January 31, 2011. Comments may be submitted via email to: DENA_mountainfeecomments@nps.gov or faxed to (907) 683-9612. They may also be sent to: Superintendent, Denali National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box 9, Denali Park, AK 99755.

For additional information on the mountaineering program or the cost recovery special use fee visit the park website at www. nps.gov/dena. If you have questions about the fee you may contact Chief Park Ranger Peter Armington at (907) 683-9521 or peter_armington@nps.gov. Media inquiries should be directed to Public Affairs Officer Kris Fister at (907) 683-9583 or kris_fister@nps.gov.

 We recently wrote about this particular issue in a blog on November 5th.  To learn more about the issue and what you can do to help keep mountaineering fees low, click here.

--Jason D. Martin

Cafezinho Brewer with cups and saucers

Tiny cafezinho cups at the end of a meal

You know I have a very clever, dear friend called Kate Sutton, aka Uberkate. I have written about our friendship before. Well she goes to ground at this time of year. Because she is busy hand making jewellery. She is a little bit like Santa for grown ups. So I do not get to see much of her. And that makes me sad. But I did manage to spend a day with her while I was modelling for her new catalogue.


And she is super busy because she has launched a new collection, The Living Range, a series of organic pieces that have been designed for both men and women. And each piece continues to be handcrafted by Kate herself. Which I think is so bloody amazing. No Made in China here!

So Uberkate, tell us about your new range.

“My inspiration for this range was plant life. The metal has been shaped to emulate growing vines, especially the way they twist and turn. I have also named it the Living Range because the pieces can be added to as the family grows and changes over time.”

Excellent. Can I have a necklace to give away to a lucky WoogsWorld reader?

"Yes, if you buy me a beer and a chicken parmigiana at the pub."

RESULT!

Unfamiliar with the Uberkate Range? (Living under a rock have we?) Check out http://www.uberkate.com.au/ and fall in love. And drool. And forward the site onto potential folk who might purchase you a piece for Christmas. Oh and drooooool a bit more.

Random.org will select a winner on Friday 10th December and it will be published here, at WoogsWorld. So please check back in to see if it is you! And SawHole, you are ineligible to enter.